Abstract [en]

In the thesis the period when Sweden became a full employment society is examined. Starting off the study the union’s unemployment figures are collected from the monthly publication “Sociala meddelanden” during the period 1935-1948. Thereafter, starting from the division into different trade unions the material is processed and unemployment figures for seven industry groups are created. From the division into industry subsectors the unemployment figures are subsequently linked to the records of value added, employment and wages that has been published in the official industry statistics and as a result of the efforts to construct Swedish historical national accounts.

Two hypotheses that can be derived from the New Keynesian theory of the labor market are then tested against the material. The first hypothesis pertains to the relation between the warranted wage, wages and unemployment. According to the theory wages can only grow in tandem with Harrod-neutral technological growth for unemployment to remain unaffected. The second hypotheses relates to the relationship between the level of resource utilization(unemployment) and nominal wage inflation. According to the theory the case when an upturn in the resource utilization is accompanied by unchanged nominal wages should to be interpreted as an improvement in labor market performance. The two hypotheses are tested for the seven subsectors and for the industry as a whole.

The outcome of the study is that the growth of wages in relation to the warranted wage as well as the relationship between resource utilization and nominal wage inflation point in the direction of an improvement in labor market performance for the industry as a whole during the period when full employment was achieved. For the seven subsectors however, the results are more scattered. In closing I argue that the previous historiography should be deemphasized to the benefit of a chronology that instead stretches the interconnectedness between the inter- and postwar development in order for a richer understanding of the path towards full employment in Sweden to be reached.